As CEJA’s Grant Writer, Neena helped secure critical funding to support our various programmatic and electoral efforts towards environmental justice. Her tenure at CEJA has included serving as the Climate Justice Program Manager and Climate and Air Campaign Manager, ensuring the needs and experiences of environmental justice communities are uplifted and are used to shape California’s climate policies. Neena has also served on the AB 32 Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (EJAC) to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and on the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) Clean Transportation Advisory Committee. Her hope is that together we can lead the way in creating an equitable and just transition that addresses historical and current harms to marginalized communities, while also mitigating the impacts of climate change on our planet and its inhabitants.
Neena’s perspective is in part shaped by her experiences growing up in a South Asian immigrant family in a small town in the High Desert/Inland Valley of Southern California (the ancestral home and unceded territory of the Yuhaviatam / Maarenga’yam people). As a graduate of UC Berkeley with Bachelors of Science degrees in Environmental Sciences and in Conservation & Resources Studies, and a minor in LGBT Studies, Neena is also shaped by student organizing experiences in queer/trans people of color and environmental justice spaces. She was also the Conference Manager for the first ever Student of Color Environmental Conference at the university level in the state. During her undergraduate years, Neena had the opportunity to work with Earthjustice and National Parks Conservation Association to uplift diverse voices and share critical narratives. Neena gained exposure to the world of state policy as a Summer Associate on the Environmental Equity team at the Greenlining Institute, and was also a fellow at Alameda County’s Office of Sustainability, where I worked on climate adaptation, resilience, and equity issues in local government. In their free time, Neena likes to create and give workshops on environmental and climate justice issues, and have done so for various conferences, retreats, and trainings.
Outside of work, you can find Neena learning electric guitar, supporting other social justice movements, hiking, and practicing mindfulness & meditation. They also enjoy exploring various decolonial, ecological, feminist and queer of color theories, and am on a journey of (re)discovering and (re)defining their relationship to land, institutions, other beings, and themself. Neena’s guiding light is the interconnectedness of all things, and hopes their efforts in this work help bring about more healing, freedom, and love in these connections.